


Chirps and Whistles

by Confuse_the_Queer



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, First Kiss, Gen, He can speak, I forgot that one at first, Just not the same language, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, M/M, Mute Lance (Voltron), Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, POV Keith (Voltron), Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Shiro's not really there that much, Siren Lance (Voltron), Sort Of, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 04:32:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18066656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Confuse_the_Queer/pseuds/Confuse_the_Queer
Summary: Keith sat there for a few minutes, wallowing in self-pity, when he felt a tap on his foot. He jerked his head up and his eyes met with a glowing blue, bright as a cloudless summer sky and swirling like the ocean.It disappeared before he could blink, and it its place sat the pocket knife, retrieved from the waves. He grabbed the pocket knife and stood up, looking out into the dark waters.He believed he saw two glowing eyes looking back.





	Chirps and Whistles

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhh, this was an absolute bitch to write, ugh. It took so long and the ending nearly killed me, but I think it was worth it.

At seven years old, Keith figured he was plenty old enough to go to the beach on his own, no matter what Shiro said. So, he snuck out of his window in his swimming trunks and went down there, figuring he'd have much more fun night swimming anyway.

He set his towel down on a rock, far away from the waves like his parents taught him, and ran towards the water. He was stopped from going in, however, by an odd blue glow coming from one spot in the water.

Keith pulled out the pocket knife from his bathing suit pocket and approached the glowing spot slowly. His splashing steps must have warned it he was coming, cause it seemed to move part of itself towards him before swimming quickly away and behind a rock.

Never one to give up easily, he began to run after the glow wanting to catch up with it, the waves, on the other hand, had a different idea. They swept him off his feet, making him fall forward into the water and throw the pocket knife deep into the waves.

He caught himself before he went under, and reached his hand out as if he could catch the pocket knife too, "No!"

He pulled his hand back to his chest after a second and turned around and ran back to the shore. He sat down, hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head on top of them.

He wiped some potential tears from his eyes and shook his head. His mother had given him that knife before she had disappeared years ago, it was the only thing he had to remember her by.

He moved so his forehead rested on his knees instead and squeezed his eyes shut, what was he going to do? He can't go to Shiro or his dad for help, then he'd get in trouble for coming out here, and it wasn't like they could do anything to get it back.

He sat there for a few minutes, wallowing in self-pity when he felt a tap on his foot. He jerked his head up and his eyes met with a glowing blue, bright as a cloudless summer sky and swirling like the ocean.

It disappeared before he could blink, and in its place sat the pocket knife, retrieved from the waves. He grabbed the pocket knife stood up, looking out into the dark waters.

He believed he saw two glowing eyes looking back.

 

At ten, Keith believed that what he had seen had been a dream. Nevertheless, he was wary of the waves as he walked along the beach.

Shiro had introduced him to his friends Adam and Matt today, and Matt had brought his little sister Katie. Katie had brought a little coding game and disappeared, so when the three older boys disappeared to study, Keith slipped out to go walking on the shore.

Keith sighed, he could tell that Shiro wanted him to make friends with Katie, and he had tried! But there was nothing they could really talk about, they didn't even know if they had any mutual interests.

Keith kicked at the waved boredly, then froze when he thought he heard something. There, were those grunts and whimpers?

Keith pulled out his pocket knife, as he always did when he thought there might be danger. He crept forward, seeing that the sounds were coming from behind a nearby rock.

He peeked out from behind the rock and gasped at what he saw. A mermaid, an actual, real-life mermaid, was laying in the sand, tangled up in an old fishing net and struggling to get free.

His gasp alerted the creature to his presence, and as it looked up at him he was met with the same blue eyes that had been in his dream. Or was this proof to the fact that it wasn't a dream at all?

The creature, which he hoped was male thanks to its bare chest, let out a terrified trill when it saw him and began struggling in earnest. Scared he would wind up strangling himself, Keith jumped over the rock and fell to his knees beside him, pocket knife still gripped in his hand.

The mermaid (merman?) glanced at the knife in his hand and froze. He figured it was out of fear, but then his gaze flicked up to meet Keith's and recognition flashed in his eyes.

Definitely wasn't a dream, then.

The mer-person calmed down after identifying him, and Keith was able to safely cut him free. Instead of disappearing like last time, however, he just sat there, staring curiously up at his rescuer.

Keith used this time to study the creature he had only gotten a glance before. His skin was a rich caramel color, smooth with freckles sprinkling his face and shoulders. His hair was dark mahogany and curled where it sat atop his head.

The scales of his tail, which were only faintly darker than his eyes, went up to just under his navel. There were translucent fins in a lighter blue color that flared from his back, the sides of his tail, and at the end of his tail. His ears faded to the same translucent blue, and they were longer and twitched every few seconds.

After the two spent a minute studying each other, Keith broke the silence hesitantly.

"H-hello."

The merman's (he has made the executive decision to refer to it as male until proven otherwise) ears twitch and it cocks its head. It makes a soft chirp, sitting up so that it sat straight.

 _'Okay, so it can't speak,'_ Keith thought, shifting so that he wasn't on his knees. He thought for a moment, then gestured to himself.

"My name is Keith," he said, and the merman's ears twitched again. He copied Keith's movements and let out a series of chirps and trills.

Well, that won't do.

Keith bit his nail lightly as he thought for a second, "Hm, I'll call you.... Blue." He nodded decisively.

Blue nodded as well, copying him, and Keith laughed, genuinely smiling for the first time that day. After that, the two sat quietly for a while, until Keith noticed Blue eyeing his pocket knife curiously.

He offered it to him with a small smile, "You can look at it if you'd like."

Blue's gazed flickered from Keith to his hand a few times before he lilted out what Keith assumed to be a thank you. He reached out to take it and Keith noticed he also had translucent blue webbing between his fingers.

Keith watched Blue play with his knife for a while, making sure he didn't accidentally cut himself, until he heard frantic chirping coming from the water. He looks over to see two more merpeople in the water, looking up at them warily.

Blue chirps happily and waves at them, while Keith just stares silently, assessing them. It looked like a larger merman with yellow-orange scales and fins, and a mermaid who looked very similar to Blue but with purple features and long hair.

He was certain now of their genders because the mermaid's scales continued up her back to loop around and cover her chest, making it look like the tummy on a teddy bear.

Blue hands Keith his pocket knife back and hesitates a second before hefting himself up and wrapping his arms around the boy's shoulders in a hug. Keith froze, but slowly returned the hug by moving his arms so his hand rested lightly on Blue's lower back, just below his fin.

They stayed like that for a full minute before Blue let go and maneuvered himself back into the water. He got to the other two merpeople, who didn't wait before ducking under the waves.

Blue, however, turned back with a small smile and lifted his hand in a silent goodbye. Keith hopped to his feet and waved largely in return, making Blue let out soft coo's of laughter before he ducked under the waves and disappeared once more.

Keith stood out there for five minutes, studying the waves for any sign of Blue, before slowly making his way back home. Once he got there, he found the three older boys in the living room watching tv, Matt on his stomach on the floor and Shiro and Adam leaning against each other on the couch.

Shiro looked up when he entered, and concern swept over his features, "Keith? Where have you been?"

Keith shrugged, not feeling the need to lie, "On the beach, I rescued a merman from a fishing net and let him look at my pocket knife for a bit."

Shiro raised a brow, but ultimately shook his head and turned back to the tv, "Alright then."

Keith knew he didn't believe him, he almost expected it. What he did not expect was to walk into the kitchen to find Katie looking up at him, her glasses glinting.

"I believe you." She said simply, "I found an alien drone in my backyard last year, right now I'm trying to fix it and make it my minion."

Keith nodded, as one does when told things like this, and sat down beside her, listening as she began to talk about her theories and beliefs.

 

A fourteen-year-old Keith sat on top of his favorite rock at the beach, whittling away at a piece of whalebone with his lucky pocket knife. He was only half-concentrating on his work, more in his own head than anything.

He was thinking of the past four years, years spent on this beach with a boy from the sea.

It took about a year for Keith to learn sign language and then subsequently teach it to Blue so they had a reliable way to communicate. After that, Keith finally learned his friend's real name.

"Lance?" He asked, "That's your name?"

Lance nodded happily and clapped his hands, signing more quickly now that he knew Keith understood. Keith laughed and had to grab his hands to get him to stop, it was clear he had been practicing.

After that, they had talked about anything and everything. Lance told him about his family, his best friend ("Besides you, of course," Lance had signed solemnly) Hunk. They talked to each other about their daily lives, about their hopes and dreams.

Eventually, they introduced each other to one other person. Lance had, obviously, brought Hunk, and Keith had been happy to meet his best friend.

Keith had chosen to bring Katie, or as they preferred to be called, Pidge. It had been a tough choice, between them and Shiro, but Shiro had been spending a lot of time with Adam, and Pidge had been the only one who believed him when he had initially said something about mermaids.

So they had met each other's friends, and they got to know each other better than anyone else. And that was why this was going to be so hard.

Unconsciously, he registered splashing coming up beside him and smirked to himself as he pretended not to notice it. The splashing inched closer then stopped for a moment. Keith wordlessly braced himself and-

With a shrill whistle, Lance launched himself at Keith, wrapping his arms around the boy's upper body. Keith laughed as Lance nuzzled his head into the crook of his neck, snickering softly.

"Yeah, yeah, you got me," Keith rolled his eyes, smiling at him for a moment before going back to what he was doing. He put up his pocket knife and took out a leather cord, he was almost done now.

Lance rested his chin on Keith's shoulder, cooing inquiringly. Keith laced the cord through a loop in the carving and held it up in front of them.

It was a carved dolphin, about the size of a silver half-dollar, with the chord going through its dorsal fin. Lance quieted when he saw it, his good mood sobering a bit as he remembered Keith's words about this project.

 _"_ _When I finish this, we'll have to say goodbye."_

Lance rested their heads together, and Keith sighed heavily. He supported Shiro in his decision, lord knows a change of scenery is what he needs after losing Adam, but he only wished it didn't mean losing this.

"We're leaving tomorrow morning," Keith says softly, letting Lance adjust so he was in a better position behind him before sinking into him.

Lance chirped sadly, beginning to run his hand through Keith's hair gently. He smiled a sad smile, he would miss this.

He held the dolphin up again, "This is for you by the way."

Lance blinked down at him in wide-eyed surprise, which pulled a chuckle from his lips before he sat up and gestured for Lance to face away from him.

When the merman did so, he wrapped the leather cord around his neck twice before tieing it, so the dolphin sat just below the hollow of his throat.

"It's," Keith swallowed so his voice wouldn't break, "It's so you don't forget me."

Lance turned around and wrapped him in a hug, purring comfortingly, carding his hand through his hair again. Then, he jerked back and dove back down into the waves.

Keith half though Lance had left him, but within two minutes he was back and holding something tightly in his hand. He held it up for Keith to see, it was a long strand of braided seaweed.

Lance got back up on the rock with him and grabbed his wrist. Keith watched him wrap the strand around his wrist a couple of times before tying it off. He smiles at it when Lance pulls away, glad to know he wasn't the only one who was scared of being forgotten.

This time it was Keith who reached out, only he dragged Lance into his lap for the hug instead of just putting his arms around him. Lance cuddled into him, slotting his face into the crook of his neck and resting his hand on his other shoulder.

They sat there for quite a while, sometimes with Keith talking softly and Lance making various answering noises, and sometimes sitting in silence, enjoying the others company for one last time. Keith felt the impossible softness of Lance's hair under his chin, and he almost forgot everything that was happening, lost in the familiar feelings.

Until they heard a voice.

"Keith?" Shiro called, appearing on the boardwalk a ways away.

Normally, Lance would disappear before he got to them, making sure not to be seen by the older human. But not today. Today, he stayed where he sat, wanting to prolong the inevitable for as long as possible, and Keith couldn't say he didn't want to do the same, keep Lance here in his arms for as long as he'd let him.

"Keith? Is that you?" Shiro got closer, but froze when he saw his younger brother, or more accurately, who was with his younger brother.

"Hey Shiro," Keith said quietly, keeping Lance close to him.

"Who.... who's this?" He gestured to Lance, slightly awkward.

"Lance," Keith said simply, and Lance waved.

"Uh, hi?" Shiro waved back, not sure what was happening. They sat in awkward silence for a moment before Keith sighed heavily.

"Looks like it's time for me to go." He said, and Lance whined and gripped him tighter, "Lance, you have to let me go."

Lance shook his head and held Keith like his life depended on it. Keith could feel wet seeping into his shirt and felt an unpleasant pressure behind his eyes as a result. He hugged Lance back, burying one hand in his hair, and tried not to start crying.

"I'll come back," he promised quietly, "I'll come back in a few years, okay?"

Lance sighed but let go of him, his eyes a stormy, sad blue. He placed his hand on Keith's jaw, caressing it softly. Keith felt his breath hitch, unsure of where this was going, but before it went anywhere Lance turned and dived into the sea.

Keith and Shiro sat in silence for a moment.

"So, the merman you saved when you were ten?" Shiro asked cautiously.

"Yep," Keith answered simply, getting up and turning to walk back to the house, he still needed to pack.

 

Lance watched the two head back up to their house with sad eyes, fiddling with the dolphin on his necklace.

 _'He said he would come back,'_ Lance reminded himself, _'He promised he would come back.'_

 

Keith looked up at his childhood home six years later and remembered why he had never brought anyone over as a kid. He was twenty-two now, he shouldn't be getting so embarrassed by this anymore.

"So, you regretting your life decisions yet?" Keith looked over to find Pidge leaning against his motorcycle.

Keith sighed, "Only slightly, what are you doing here?"

Pidge got up walked over to him, looking slightly irked that they were still shorter than him, and patted him on the back, "I'm a messenger! Someone is waiting for you on the beach." They shoved him in the direction of the boardwalk, "So get a move on!"

Keith stumbled a bit at first, but quickly regained his footing and started running to the beach. When he got close enough, he spotted a figure sitting on his rock and nearly tripped.

It was Lance, though he had definitely changed during Keith's absent years. The once-scrawny merman had filled out, broadening his chest and shoulders, and there was now stubble dusting across his face. His eyes, once wide and naive, were tired and wise, though they were still the same swirling blue. For all that had changed, Keith knew it was him by the eyes and the fact that the dolphin charm still lay around his neck.

"Lance," Keith breathed, causing the merman's head to whip around to him. He watches Lance's eyes trail up and down his body, and tries to fight down the flush that threatened to cover his face.

As much as Lance had changed over the past six years, so had Keith. Keith had also bulked up considerably, as well as grown out his hair, which was currently tied back. The most notable difference was a long scar going from just under his right eye to just under his chin.

He waved shyly, and Lance's eyes snapped to the braided seaweed that still sat on his wrist. Lance let out a soft trill and Keith noticed that his voice had deepened, which didn't help to banish the blush that was still steadily rising.

The soft trill seemed to trigger the fact that this was real, and he set off running towards the rock, throwing himself at Lance and being slightly surprised when he stayed steady upon impact. He wrapped his arms around Lance's shoulders and vaguely recognized the fact that there were tears trailing down both of their faces.

Lance pulled back and cupped Keith's face in both hands almost reverently, chirping softly.

"I'm here, I'm back." Keith laughed wetly, shaking his head, "I'm back, and I'm never gonna leave again."

Lance let out what almost sounded like a relieved sob, then surprised him by pulling him closer so their mouths met in a salty kiss. Keith was frozen for only a moment before he returned the kiss eagerly, weaving his fingers through Lance's hair.

Keith felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest with all the earth-shattering _relief_ he felt in that moment. He had been terrified that Lance wouldn't have wanted to see him, that he would've pushed him away had he tried to do this himself. But the fact that Lance not only wanted him here but initiated the kiss? Keith felt lighter than he had in a long time.

Lance's hand slipped down from his jaw to the small of his back, and Keith jolted when he felt a hot tongue swipe over his bottom lip, begging entrance. Keith granted it easily, sighing softly as their tongues twirled around each other.

A sharp wolf-whistle broke them out of their revere, and they looked over to were Pidge was standing smugly with wide eyes and flushed faces. Pidge only grinned at the two before turning to walk back up the boardwalk.

"Just wanted to tell you two lovebirds not to have too much fun," they did a backward wave, "Don't forget Keithy-boy still has to unpack by the end of the day!"

Keith's face turned even redder at that implication and he buried his face in Lance's chest, though he felt himself smiling widely. There would be time for them to get carried away later.

After all, Keith wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to @ me on tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/confusingly-queer
> 
> Comments are welcome!


End file.
